India-Israel

Rajan Grover.
Editorial.VI.XIV.XVII
p>

FAVORED
FRIENDS

By Rajan
Grover

Foreign
policy of a country is like a river which never
flows straight. It has natural bends on its way.
This holds particularly true for India-Israel
relations. From voting against Israel's admission
to the United Nations in 1949 to establishing
formal diplomatic relations with it in 1992, the
relations between the two nations have developed
slowly, steadily but surely to reach at the
present level. The proposed 3-days visit of
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to
Israel next month (July 4, 2017), the first by an
Indian PM, to mark the 25th anniversary of
diplomatic ties with it, will finally give the
stability and direction to the relations between
the two democracies, which they genuinely
deserve.

In the Indians'
perception, Israel stands unique and tall as a
nation. It enjoys huge respect and admiration
because of its zero tolerance approach towards
terrorism and armed hostilities thrust upon it by
its Islamic neighbors of Arab world since its
inception. According to an international poll
conducted in 2009, 58% of Indians expressed
sympathy with Israel compared with 56% of
Americans! The common man and the popular
electronic media can often be seen pitching for
adopting Israel's strategy to fight against
Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
India's last year’s supposed surgical
strikes into Pakistan were seen by many as India
coming out of its shell and going the Israeli way.
Prime Minister Modi is fully aware of the
sentiments of the general public of his country.
So this proposed visit will be keenly watched and
observed not only in the two nations but far
beyond in world at large.

It will be, however,
naive to see the India-Israel relationship in
isolation. It is essentially to be seen through
the larger context of Arab-Israel conflict and
other fast emerging regional contours of
engagement in this volatile region. A brief
history of this conflict which is in fact, a
British legacy of modern era, may help the reader
to understand this issue in totality.

The latter half of the
19th century, saw the extraordinary rise of
nationalism in Europe. Based upon the identity and
nationalism of various groups, new nation states
were formed like Germany and Italy. The Jews,
scattered and prosecuted in different parts of
Europe, also felt the need of a state for the Jews
in their ancient Holy land of Palestine. This
feeling of nationalism among the Jews which later
came to be known as Zionism or Zionist movement,
initiated the Jews to migrate, though in small
numbers to Palestine which was a part of Ottoman
empire at that time. The British which had
hitherto no direct connection with this
geographical area, appeared on the scene during
World War-I.

In exchange for the
support in the war, they came with the Belfour
Declaration for the Jews scattered in Europe,
promising the support for establishing their
Homeland in Palestine. At the same time they also
promised the Arab independence if they revolted
against the Ottoman Empire (Hussein-McMohan
correspondence). At the end of war, Britain won
control over the area of Palestine, including
present Jordon and Israel, from Ottoman Empire.
This area was known as British mandated Palestine,
the mandate being an authorization to govern the
conquered territories, which they did till 1948.
During the war the British had though made
promises to give both Arabs and Jews the lands,
after their victory they claimed that they didn't
commit to give either side the whole land. They
tried to satisfy both parties by giving the area
east of Jordan river to Emir Abdullah to rule,
which is the present country called Jordon while
encouraging the Jews to migrate in the remaining
British mandate Palestine.

The Holocaust of World
War-II, further accelerated migration of Jews to
Palestine. Communal violence and tensions between
the Jews and the native Palestinians were growing.
Having failed to control the situation, Britain
referred the issue to the newly formed United
Nations. The general assembly of the UN
recommended the partition of British mandate
Palestine into two states between the Jews and the
Arabs. The Jewish leadership accepted the proposed
partition while Palestinians rejected it. In 1948,
as the British troops were leaving the country,
Zionist leaders unilaterally declared the state of
Israel as was proposed by UN. The neighbouring
Arab countries of Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon
etc. invaded this newborn country of
Israel.

The subsequent
Arab-Israel wars (6 day war & Yom-Kippur war)
further complicated this situation for which Arabs
themselves are to be blamed. Israel came out
stronger after every war and it continues to hold
the conquered territories of proposed Palestine.
The rise of right-wing political leadership in
Israel (likes of Netanyahu and Ariel Sheron) and
in Palestine (Hamas overtaking the relatively
moderate PLO-Palestine Liberation Organisation of
Yaser Arafat fame) has also diminished the chances
of a settlement. As of now, there are no real
hopes of a breakthrough on the deadlock over the
questions of Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem in
near future.

Now even after its
independence from recognition of Israel in 1950 to
the early nineties, India had stood with the Arab
world considering Israel as untouchable. Following
are the reasons for our apathy towards
it:

1. The dominant
political dispensation of this era of the country
(Indian National Congress) considered
ideologically Israel as a state based on religion
and hence an analogue of Pakistan.

2. India's soft corner
for socialism and its tilt towards the Soviet
Union during the cold war perceived Israel as a
country of other block under the influence of
US.

3. As an active and
founder member of Non Aligned Movement (NAM) and
because of its principled stand against the
colonialism, India considered Palestine as an
oppressed country of third
world.

4. The Kashmir dispute
was being propagated as a Muslim issue and was
often debated at the UN. To secure the support of
Arab nations and to counter the influence of
Pakistan, it was necessary for India to appease
them.

5. To safeguard the
interests of huge Indian workforce employed in
Gulf countries, which was a major source of
foreign exchange, pro Arab policy was
necessary.

6. To ensure the
continuous supply of oil from Arab countries and
hence meet the energy security of the
country.

7. Another domestic
factor was India's large Muslim population which
has been sympathetic towards Palestine. Any normal
or favourable relation with Israel could mean
losing the Muslim vote bank by the political
leadership. It could also disturb the communal
harmony in the country.

Clearly India's policy
thus far has been of appeasement, guided by the
internal and external constraints of the day.
However, in early nineties, there was a
realization among both Israel and Arabs to seek
the peaceful settlement of the issue guided by
talks and negotiations. After the end of cold war,
India too had started to cozy up to US. India,
under the leadership of former Indian PM Narsimha
Rao saw an opportunity like many other countries
and established the diplomatic relations with
Israel in 1992. The real turning point in
relations came in 1999 during Kargil war with
Pakistan when Israel extended unconditional
material and technical support to India. (Even US
had declined to share the GPS data about the enemy
positions). There has been no looking back since
then. From 2014 when PM Modi came to power, the
relations have expanded dramatically. Israel is
now the 2nd largest arms' supplier to India after
Russia. India is no longer apologetic and shy of
its relations with Israel that are changing from
secret to public.

Of late, with the
middle-east in turmoil due to being Islamic state
and the Shia-Sunni sectarian divides, there is a
demand from certain hawkish elements to set free
and disconnect Israel from the Palestine issue.
This is the last thing we should do. India needs a
strong endorsement to its candidature for
permanent membership in Security Council from the
Arab nations that have a huge presence in the
General Assembly. Iran, where we are developing
Chabahar Port as our counter to Gwadar Port by
China and Pakistan, is the most important country
in this region in our security dialectics.

As Pakistan joins the
alliance of Sunni countries aka Muslim NATO, Iran
becomes more important than ever before.
Incidentally, there is no love lost between Iran
and Israel. We must take care that relations with
Israel do not come at the cost of other countries
in the region. We had recognized Palestine as a
state long ago. Instead of deserting their cause,
India should compare the plight of these native
Arabs of Palestine with that of Kashmiri Pandits,
who were forcibly driven out from the Kashmir
valley by Muslim extremists. Unlike the
Palestinians, the Kashmiri Pandits never took to
arms and they still continue to suffer in silence.
This will also blunt the Pakistani propaganda of
equating India with Israel as an occupying force
in Kashmir. It is being conjectured that PM Modi
will not meet up with any Palestine leader during
his impending visit to Israel.

Though there are many
areas of co-operation between India and Israel
other than defense, agriculture, irrigation,
pharmaceuticals, space-technology and
counter-terrorism to name a few, Prime Minister
Modi should focus on one area which needs
immediate attention and that is cyber security.
Israel is considered a superpower in the field of
cyber security, whereas India is a late entrant in
this field. The future wars, it is a foregone
conclusion, will be fought in cyber space,
inflicting maximum damage to the adversary without
firing a single gunshot.

The recent disappearance
of India's Sukhoi-30 Fighter near China's border
after taking off from Assam has raised serious
doubts of a cyber attack by hostile China. Power
distribution, space, banking, aviation and
railways are the other vulnerable sectors to such
cyber attacks. India's top priority must be to
gain expertise in this field and ensure that
Israel doesn't sell the same defense platforms and
equipments to China for economic purposes like
Russia has started to do so. It will also be in
Israel’s own interest to desist from doing
so. India needs to continue with renewed vigor its
ties with Israel and give a fillip to the evolving
nexus with other friendly nations.

____________________________________

Disclaimer: The
opinions/views expressed within this article are
the personal opinions of the author.
fnbworld/News for Soul
is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness,
suitability, or validity of any information in
this article. All information is provided on an
as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions
appearing in the article do not reflect the views
of fnbworld and fnbworld does not assume any
responsibility or liability for the same. [The
online tabloid believes in open source; feel free
to use any material with due attribution
(Mandatory) to the author and webzine with a
hyperlink. Thank You].